Allahabad HC refuses to quash 1984 Kanpur anti-Sikh riot cases

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday rejected petitions filed by nine persons seeking to quash criminal proceedings related to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Kanpur, Live Law reported.

Large-scale riots had broken out in early November 1984, following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, who was the prime minister at the time, by her Sikh bodyguards.

The High Court on Tuesday described the violence as amounting to a genocide and crimes against humanity.

The bench of Justice Anish Kumar Gupta held that delays in recording witness statements and the absence of original police records are not sufficient grounds to terminate proceedings.

Gupta dismissed the seven connected applications challenging the chargesheets and the cases pending before the chief judicial magistrate in Kanpur Nagar.

In all the cases, first information reports had been lodged soon after the incidents, but the final reports were later submitted exonerating the persons accused in those matters, Live Law reported.

Subsequently, the Union government set up the Justice Nanavati Commission to inquire into the riots. The Supreme Court had later constituted a Special Investigation Team and directed that cases where FIRs had been extracted by forensic laboratories should be investigated and tried.

Following the directions, fresh investigations were conducted, witnesses were examined and chargesheets were filed, after which cognisance was taken by the chief metropolitan magistrate.

The applicants argued that the absence of original records, including FIRs and post-mortem reports, made a fair trial impossible. They also contended that the identity of the persons accused in the matter itself is doubtful, as the incident had taken place in 1984 but the witness statements were recorded between 2020 and 2022.

One of the applicants also raised a plea of alibi, claiming he was not present at the scene of the violence.

The state opposed the petitions, submitting that the Supreme Court had been aware of the missing records when it ordered the reinvestigation.

Additional Advocate General Manish Goyal, representing the state, argued that the authorities are bound to act in aid of the Supreme Court and that the delay alone cannot justify closing the cases.

Goyal further submitted that the heinous nature of the crimes left a lasting impression on witnesses, enabling them to give clear accounts.

The High Court agreed with the state, observing that final reports had been filed hastily in the past to protect those involved.

It noted that it was an admitted fact that the records had either been weeded out or destroyed over time. The court said the incidents formed part of a wider pattern of violence against the Sikh community across the country, involving killings, arson and looting on a large scale.

The judge held that a prima facie case is made out against the applicants, as there is sufficient material to indicate their involvement and establish their identity.